Ohio State football: Meyer era begins

Tuesday

Nov 29, 2011 at 12:01 AMNov 29, 2011 at 1:06 PM

At $4 million a year, plus incentives, Urban Meyer is getting paid handsomely to become Ohio State's 24th head football coach. But at the root of the national championship-winning coach's decision to end his retirement from coaching was one simple thought: "It's good to be home," Meyer said.

Tim May, The Columbus Dispatch

At $4 million a year, plus incentives, Urban Meyer is getting paid handsomely to become Ohio State's 24th head football coach.

But at the root of the national championship-winning coach's decision to end his retirement from coaching was one simple thought:

"It's good to be home," Meyer said.

Meyer signed a six-year contract yesterday to lead the Buckeyes, and OSU President E. Gordon Gee said he knew a homecoming was the school's hook when it cast its line last week for the former Florida coach.

"I think he has great pride in Ohio, and I think he has great pride in Ohio State, and I think he wants to make sure we do well," said Gee, who wasn't at the news conference. "I could feel his passion about that.

"And I think from that point of view, this is a guy who is coming home. I rarely use the word home run, but I think we have hired the best coach in the country for Ohio State."

Born in Toledo and raised in Ashtabula, Meyer, 47, grew up intrigued by The Game, Ohio State vs. Michigan, which at the time was an annual duel between coaches Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler. Meyer gained his first break in coaching as a graduate assistant under Earle Bruce at OSU in 1986 and '87.

He earned his first head-coaching job at Bowling Green in 2001, where he engineered a stunning two-year run that catapulted him to two outstanding years at the University of Utah and then to greatness at the University of Florida.

His Gators team won national titles in 2006 - a win over Ohio State in Glendale, Ariz. - and in 2008 - over Oklahoma - before he retired from coaching after the 2010 season because of health and family concerns.

Now rejuvenated, he said, he gladly answered when Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith called for the first time on Nov. 20 to talk about the Ohio State job. They met Wednesday in Cincinnati, where Meyer and his family had gone to attend the funeral of his father that Friday. They hammered out the details of his contract this past weekend, with Meyer receiving a formal offer Sunday.

"As far back as I can remember, other than the 60 minutes in Glendale, I've always followed the Buckeyes," Meyer said. He said his seasons at Florida were very fulfilling, but "this is my home state, and it's great to be back home."

Like everyone else associated with OSU football, Meyer is awaiting the NCAA Committee on Infractions' final verdict in its investigation of the Buckeyes and the memorabilia-for-tattoos mess. OSU has forced out head coach Jim Tressel, had several players serve various suspensions, seen star quarterback Terrelle Pryor bolt for the NFL, put itself on a two-year probation, vacated the results of the 2010 season and, most recently, given up five scholarships over the next three seasons.

Meyer said Smith and Gee spelled out the situation before he took the job. He said they told him they are confident that no major violations are yet to be uncovered.

"I have great trust and faith in our athletic director and president … On my own, I did a little bit of research. But at the end of the day, I asked the same question you did: 'Is there anything behind door No. 2, No. 3, No. 4?' And I feel very confident and have great trust that there's not."

Florida fans and some columnists were blasting Meyer yesterday for his sudden return to coaching after having stepped away from the Florida job because of health and family concerns and, as he said then, "the state of college football." But Florida athletic director Jeremy Foley preferred to reflect on the great things Meyer did for the Gators.

"He elevated our program, winning multiple national championships, and made a strong impact in this community," Foley said.

"He is good for college football, and we knew he would return to the sidelines to coach again. We wish nothing but the best for him and his family."

Smith said he wanted to move swiftly to bring Meyer on board. Meyer was a free agent, since he had been working this year as a football analyst for ESPN.

Smith said the current coaching staff, led by Luke Fickell, will run the team through whichever bowl it attends. The favorite at the moment is the Jan. 2 Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla., which reportedly would like to match the 6-6 Buckeyes against 6-6 Florida.

Fickell will have a position on the 2012 coaching staff, Meyer said, but he said he was uncertain as to the capacity. Sources told The Dispatch it could be defensive coordinator. Meyer said the nine assistants on the current staff will be evaluated.

Meyer said his goal is to put together the best coaching staff in college football.

Smith indicated money would not be a roadblock. Two years ago, he spoke of not wanting to enter the big-money pursuit of coaches that goes on at some schools, especially in the Southeastern Conference, but he said yesterday he had reserved the right to change his mind.

"I benchmark our assistants, and as you knew, they were lower than most (of the elite programs in the country), and in two years two of our schools in our league really jumped up, and Michigan's one of them," Smith said. "So I said I have to change my thought process and my philosophy."

Insiders told The Dispatch the new offensive and defensive coordinators will be paid in the $500,000 range, or higher, if that's what it takes to retain top coaches.

OSU's current offensive coordinator, Jim Bollman, and defensive coordinator, Jim Heacock, each earn in the high $200,000 range.

Meyer's annual salary is for about $250,000 more than Tressel would have earned this season.

"He will do a great job," Tressel texted The Dispatch. "Winners win."

Meyer's teams did that 104 times over his 10 seasons combined at BG, Utah and Florida.

"I just think of what his presence will mean on the sideline in Ohio Stadium, because of the success that he's had - the guy has won a couple of national championships already, and he's in his mid-40s," said former OSU quarterback and current ESPN analyst Kirk Herbstreit.

"Of all the jobs out there, this is his dream, the one he has always wanted, probably the only job that would have brought him back out of retirement. And remember, he is one of the great recruiters in college football. So for a guy to be kind of living his dream on top of the success he's already enjoyed at Bowling Green, Utah and especially Florida, it's going to be scary how good he can be."

Ohio State senior center Michael Brewster, who grew up in Orlando, Fla., agrees.

"I think he is going to have a great chance to be successful here, because there are a really good bunch of young guys coming back on this team for next year," he said.

Chief among them is freshman quarterback Braxton Miller, about whom Meyer grew almost giddy.

"I just met Braxton, and I wanted to meet Braxton," Meyer said. "All due respect to everybody in this room, that was the highlight of my day, not this."

Westerville native Josh Harris, who starred at quarterback for Meyer at Bowling Green, recalls the coach being about much more than quarterback play.

"One of the things that coach Meyer instilled in us at Bowling Green, something most of us probably didn't buy into until he came there, was that it was a big-time major-college program," said Harris. "He had to really sell us that at Bowling Green, because many of us had felt we had gotten the shaft from either Ohio State or Michigan State or Michigan, the big school in your area that you'd wanted to go to.

"Now you fast forward that kind of approach to being at Ohio State, I could imagine what he is selling to those guys - talk about the legacy, talk about the history, talk about the tradition.